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Statues don't seem much like major changes, but then statues (and really, most sculptures in general) have never done that much for me. I get that they're nice tributes and are impressive in their permanence and solidity, but I don't think I've ever had a real connection with a statue or sculpture the way I have with most other kinds of art.

That's a pretty significant cut in seating capacity. You tend to see that sort of thing when a team switches parks and add lux suites/boxes (the Yankees went from around 57K to about 50-51K), but fewer seats AND fewer suites?

Statues don't seem much like major changes, but then statues (and really, most sculptures in general) have never done that much for me. I get that they're nice tributes and are impressive in their permanence and solidity, but I don't think I've ever had a real connection with a statue or sculpture the way I have with most other kinds of art.

That's a pretty significant cut in seating capacity. You tend to see that sort of thing when a team switches parks and add lux suites/boxes (the Yankees went from around 57K to about 50-51K), but fewer seats AND fewer suites?

As far as I can tell from ballparks.com, this would make Progressive the smallest park in the AL, and one of only 3 under 40K.

Of course, they're drawing 18,327 this year (29th in MLB) and have averaged over 25K/gm twice since '02, so fewer seats probably doesn't hurt them much.

That's a pretty significant cut in seating capacity. You tend to see that sort of thing when a team switches parks and add lux suites/boxes (the Yankees went from around 57K to about 50-51K), but fewer seats AND fewer suites?

I was in Cleveland for a Ranger game last week, and will post more about that in a Dugout soon – basically, it's a very pleasant place to watch a game in 2014, and it doesn't seem that any of these changes will alter that fact.

Bars and restaurants seem to be replacing luxury boxes as the big income generators. You can get way more people moving through them, spending money continuously. It just took a while to catch on as a business model. When the Ballpark in Arlington opened in the mid-90s, there was a restaurant up on the top deck in right field that was open year-round, whether the Rangers were home or not. But it was out of the way and hard to get to, and didn't do enough business during games or not. On the face of it, a restaurant open <5 hours per day 81 days a year is an even worse bet, but if it's constantly packed for those 400 hours, it probably makes great sense. You do have to change people's behavior so that they prefer a sit-down air-conditioned dining experience with craft beers to sitting out in the rain or the 90-degree heat eating a soggy hotdog, but how hard can that be.

That's a pretty significant cut in seating capacity. You tend to see that sort of thing when a team switches parks and add lux suites/boxes (the Yankees went from around 57K to about 50-51K), but fewer seats AND fewer suites?

To be fair, they're basically getting rid of the third-deck outfield seats, which are terrible seats a lot of the older mallparks have, and seats the newer mallparks have tried to avoid including. The Rockies got rid of most of their third-deck outfield seats with their new party deck this year. Even in a place like AT&T, the seats down the left field line are basically empty most of the time.

In Arlington, the third deck in left field is also the sun field, a brutal experience for day games and the field is somewhat invisible. I don't know why you'd go out there unless you were a masochist, and indeed it's always empty.

You do have to change people's behavior so that they prefer a sit-down air-conditioned dining experience with craft beers to sitting out in the rain or the 90-degree heat eating a soggy hotdog, but how hard can that be.

Heck, way back when (the night of Bonds's 600th HR), we got decent burgers, garlic fries and a couple of Anchor Steams delivered to our seats in Pac Bell.

There were a few moments of "Ain't modern life amazing" vertigo but we had little difficulty adjusting to this new reality.